


What the fuck is that?

by curl



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: Comfort, M/M, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 14:15:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9238565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curl/pseuds/curl
Summary: soulmate au - the first words your soulmate says to you are marked on your skin.The magic barrier keeps their marks from appearing, but what will happen once they leave the Isle of the Lost?





	

**Author's Note:**

> i never thought i'd write a soulmate au but here i am ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> hmu on tumblr @jaylos

Carlos called them his friends, in his head at least. He didn't even know for sure if they liked him at all, but being part of this group was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and be it just for the protection it provided. No bullies dared messing with someone who was affiliated with the daughter of Maleficent in any way. 

Of course he'd still rather have them like him for real, so sitting in the royal limousine with them on their way to Auradon made him excited like he had never been before. Maybe in Auradon they could become real friends without facing ridicule like they would on the Isle.  
Carlos looked across the ocean they were crossing, his mouth still covered in chocolate and his arm touching Jay's as they were sitting close to each other, and tried not to think about how they'd have to leave again as soon as they obtained the wand. Good things never lasted, after all.

„My soulmate has got to be a prince!“, Evie said out of the blue when she removed a piece of candy that had somehow landed on her head during their short panic.  
„What are you talking about?“, Jay asked, although he was still more interested in the rest fo the candy.  
„My soulmate,“ she repeated with more emphasis, „I'm sure I'm gonna meet him in Auradon. I have to.“ She started twisting and turning her arms and pushed up her sleeves, apparently looking for something.  
Mal raised her eyebrows, „Wait, do you mean you believe in that old tale?“  
Evie pouted, „It's not a tale! It's real, I've read all about it,“ she quoted something from memory with her index finger raised, „'The first words soulmates say to one another are marked on their skin. Soulmates can meet at any given point in their lives. The love soulmates share is eternal and cannot be broken.' But it's magic so I figured that's why no-one on the Isle has it,“ she looked at the other three with a sinking heart and spoke more quietly, „Did you really not know about this?“  
„Nope,“ Jay simply responded and Carlos didn't say anything at all. He might have heard about it once or twice, but didn't think much of it. The thought of having a soulmate sure sounded nice though. Someone to always be at your side, someone to love... He refrained from glancing at Jay, who probably found the concept of soulmates pretty ridiculous.  
„Well, I know about it,“ Mal then said, „but I thought this was just some bullshit they tell kids in Auradon to make them think true love is real,“ she leaned back with a look of disapproval and crossed her arms, „ _We_ won't fall in love anyway.“  
Evie bit her bottom lip, visibly disappointed. „But at least a prince could get me a castle,“ she mumbled in an attempt to keep her evil exterior.

She leaned back as well and stared out of the window, all her excitement seemed to have vanished.  
Carlos was chewing on a piece of candy, trying to distract himself and calming his nerves. Maybe not having a soulmate wasn't too bad, because he couldn't imagine himself being at the side of someone that wasn't.. Jay. Not that that was going anywhere anyway. Not for villains like them.

When Evie scratched her wrist the movement caught Carlos' eye and he glanced at Evie's hands. „Look!“, he suddenly broke the uncomfortable silence and pointed at the place Evie had just scratched.  
Evie immediately sat upright again and looked at her wrist with barely concealed excitement. „I knew it! It's real!“, she exclaimed and held it in front of Mal's face. Jay leaned forward a little to get a glance.  
„It's the first words my soulmate is going to say to me!“, Evie rejoiced and took a closer look.  
„What does it say?“, Carlos asked, trying to come across as uninterested as possible so the others wouldn't think he actually cared.  
The excitement slowly left Evie's face and she furrowed her eyebrows ever so slightly, still careful that she wouldn't get wrinkles. „'Heigh-ho',“ she read out loud.  
Jay was leaning closer to her now and read it himself. „What the fuck is that supposed to mean?“  
Evie paled, „Oh no,“ she whispered.  
„What?“, Carlos asked.  
„It's a thing the dwarves always said,“ she explained, still staring at her wrist, „Snow White's dwarves.“ She rubbed at the marked skin with her other hand even though she knew the words wouldn't come off. „Maybe it's just an expression,“ she then said more to herself, „That doesn't mean my soulmate is a dwarf, maybe all kinds of people use it nowadays. Who knows what the people in Auradon say. Maybe it's customary that rich and beautiful princes introduce themselves like that now.“

„This is bullshit,“ Mal huffed and took off her jacket, searching her hands and arms frantically, „I can't have a soulmate,“ she spat out the last word like it was a rotten piece of food.  
Even Jay looked at his arms but gave up pretty quickly when he didn't find anything. Carlos wanted to know what Jay was thinking about all of this, but he couldn't just _ask_ him...  
„Maybe not everyone gets one,“ Carlos then stated, hoping to get some kind of reaction from Jay, but Evie spoke instead, pointing at Mals collarbone, „There it is!“  
Mal pushed out her shoulder and looked down, „I can't read it, what does it say?“ She looked anything but pleased to find that she had gotten one too.  
Evie pulled back the collar of Mal's shirt to reveal all of the letters and read aloud, „'A little bit over the top?'“, she let go of Mal's shoulder, „Odd..“  
Mal just huffed, readjusted her collar and put her jacked back on. „This is just great.“

Jay leaned back in his seat and put his arm on the backrest, only inches from touching Carlos, which made Carlos aware again of how close they acutally were. „Let's say this is legit-“, Jay began. „Which it is,“ Evie cut in before she let Jay continue.  
„That doesn't mean it doesn't exist on the Isle. We just can't see it, right?“  
„You mean we could have already met them but didn't know?“, Carlos asked, careful not to sound to eager and more like he would typically adress a science problem.  
Evie shrugged, „Yeah, I guess so.“  
Carlos wanted to discuss this further but Mal stepped in, „I don't care. I want nothing to do with it, and neither should you,“ she stated firmly, almost threatening, growing impatient from the conversation.  
„Maybe we can use whoever it is. You know, for the wand,“ Jay suggested as if trying to get Mal to look on the bright side.  
Mal just clenched her jaw and stared at a faraway point with a skeptical expression.  
„But just because you got these doesn't mean you have to spend the rest of your lives with that other person, right?“, he then asked Evie, and Carlos tried to figure out his thoughts by the tone of his voice, to no avail.  
Evie shifted in her seat, pressing her hand onto her marked skin, „As far as I know there's no spell to bind us to our soulmates.. well, except love, of course,“ she shot a glance at Mal when she huffed, and then continued, „Which usually makes people _want_ to be with their soulmates. But it's not like that can physically keep us tied to them.“ „ _Or_ that we'll fall in love in the first place,“ Mal interjected, „And whatever happens, no-one is to threaten the mission. Or else,“ she declared, thus terminating the conversation about it once and for all.

*

After their first day in Auradon, Mal was livid that her supposed soulmate was not only a prince, but also heir to the throne, and Evie was upset that hers wasn't. „Not even any kind of aristocracy!“, she had said, „A cursed dwarf, of all people!“  
They had also found out that soulmates always had their marks on the same part of their bodies, and that, while it was almost completely forgotten on the Isle of the Lost, it was a pretty big deal everywhere else.  
All day long hardly anyone spoke to them, but they weren't sure if it was because they were villains or because they feared ending up as their soulmates.

That night, after their failed attempt to steal the wand, Carlos felt relieved that they wouldn't have to leave again so soon. He almost wanted to thank Jay for being a jerk and ruining their plan.

Back in their insanely luxurious dorm room Jay changed out of his clothes to put on pj's like it was nothing. Carlos turned around to keep from staring at Jay and to hide his flushed cheeks. He didn't need Jay to see him getting embarrassed over something so stupid as changing clothes.

„Dude,“ Jay said suddenly when Carlos pulled his shirt over his head and threw it onto his bed, „Is that a fucking tramp stamp?“ He snorted and Carlos froze for a second.  
„What?!“, he said with a cracking voice and put both his hands on his lower back to try and feel something unusual. He twisted his spine as much as he could to get a look but it was hopeless.  
„I think it's that soulmate thing,“ Jay mumbled and stepped closer.  
Carlos was still trying to look at it. „What does it say?!“, he demanded, as if that information would make him any less panicky.  
„Hold still,“ Jay said completely calm, but with a hint of curiosity to his voice.  
Carlos did as told and clenched his fists to keep from shaking. The awareness that Jay was staring at his bare back came over him like a cool breeze, but the silence was too short to think about it any further.  
„'What the fuck is that?'“, Jay read, „Whoever that person is certainly has a way of striking up a conversation,“ he commented and laughed.  
„Oh come on,“ Carlos whined, „you're just fucking with me! Is that really what it says? What kind of idiot am I supposed to end up with?“  
He knew that not even a soulmate mark could force him to be with someone, if Evie was right, that is, but he could've gotten at least a decent person! Not that he wanted a soulmate anyway.. someone to prove that him and Jay could never be anything but maybe-friends.

Carlos rubbed over where he assumed his mark to be, but he couldn't feel it, nor was it coming off. „Of course I get one in the worst possible place, classic,“ he complained, „How come you didn't get one anyway?“  
Jay stopped grinning like an idiot over Carlos' misery and mumbled, without answering the question, „Wait a second.“  
Jay's sudden seriousness made Carlos turn around to see what was going on, his hand still on his back.  
When Jay seemed to get lost in thought and not responding, Carlos tried to catch his eyes, „Jay?“  
Jay met his gaze and hesitated before he asked, „Do.. do you remember anyone ever saying that to you?“  
Carlos raised his eyebrows, „Why?“  
„It could be someone you've already met, remember?“, Jay explained in an unusually quiet voice.  
For a moment, Carlos tried to remember all the first encounters he had had with people thus far, and his eyes widened when he realized what Jay was getting at. „You,“ he said just above a whisper.  
His heart skipped a beat as he stared at Jay for a few seconds.  
Jay closed his eyes and turned around. He pulled his shirt up and revealed a mark in the same spot as Carlos'.  
„Do I have one?“, he asked oddly calm.  
Carlos' throat was so dry that he could barely respond, „Yes.“  
„What does it say?“  
„'You wouldn't understand.'“

*

_Carlos was sitting at a desk in the back of a classroom in Dragon Hall. He was by far the youngest kid in the room. After some time in school he realized his classes were way too easy, so he decided to join the older kids. Nobody cared what he was doing anyway. Cruella sure didn't, as long as he kept up with his chores._

_He was fiddling with something he had brought from home, a small apparatus he hoped would one day get more TV programms to the Isle of the Lost._  
_He was so immerged in his work that he didn't notice when someone approached him. „What the fuck is that?“_  
_„You wouldn't understand,“ Carlos responded matter-of-factly, without looking at the person. No-one ever understood what he was doing, so he didn't bother explaining._  
_But then he realized that he wasn't exactly in the place to piss someone off and looked up at the person, who turned out to be a boy with long, brown hair. Carlos guessed he was the son of Jafar, but he hadn't seen him in his new classes before. He was probably skipping school a lot._  
_The boy snorted, „Aren't you a little short to talk big like that,“ he crossed his arms and even with a smirk on his face he looked intimidating enough._  
_Carlos didn't say anything, hoping he would just leave him alone._  
_Luckily, the teacher came in, and even though rules weren't all that important to the kids, at least they all sat down, including Jay._  
_Carlos must have met him on a good day, because he had heard all kinds of stories about Jay, and none were about him being nice or merciful._

*

Jay turned around to face him again, but neither of them said a word.  
Carlos stared at him, trying to figure out what to do. On one hand he was overwhelmed with joy and wanted to fling himself at Jay, on the other hand he had no idea what Jay was thinking about all of this.  
Jay ran a hand through his hair but remained silent.  
A lump started to form in Carlos' throat, „This doesn't have to mean anything,“ he said, trying to control the damage this whole thing might have caused, choking back tears, „It probably doesn't matter. You know, 'cause we're villains and all.“ He hated every word that came out of his mouth, but what was he supposed to do? Confess then and there that he wanted nothing more than for Jay to be his soulmate?  
Jay furrowed his eyebrows, „Do you really mean that?“  
He didn't answer and bit his lip as he tried to hold Jay's gaze.  
For the first time, Jay seemed somewhat insecure. „Because I want it to.. matter.“  
Carlos opened his mouth, but couldn't get words out right away.  
He could feel his heart hammering in his chest as he kept staring at Jay, who looked back at him with an uncertainty he had never seen on his face before.  
It was a tricky situation. Carlos wanted to believe that he was being sincere. Jay teased him quite a lot, it was fun and never mean-spirited. This was different, it was hard to imagine that this was another one of Jay's games.  
Jay was a villain, and he sure as hell had the reputation of one, but Carlos had never actually seen him being that cruel.  
But could he trust Jay? Could he trust him with his feelings? Or would it mean the greatest humiliation of his already undignified life?  
No, there must be a reason behind their marks. There was no way that this was a mere coincidence, right?  
„No, I- I didn't really mean that,“ he finally said and took a deep breath, „I was hoping it would be you.“  
He closed his eyes in fear of what was going to happen next and to keep tears from rolling down his cheeks.

 

Carlos felt arms wrap around him and only then he realized how cold he had been. Jay's warmth gave him goosebumps and for a moment he couldn't move, but the world around them did.  
Jay's presence nearly took his breath away, quite literally. He was soft and gentle, unlike what one might think from looking at him.  
Both of them were rather stiff, neither having touched anyone like this before. After a few moments, when Carlos realized Jay wouldn't let go anytime soon, he slowly put his hands on Jay's back and leaned into him, which made Jay tighten his grip.  
Carlos buried his face in Jay's chest and tried to forget about everything else. 

„Carlos, you're shaking,“ Jay said after a while and Carlos pulled away, blushing as he avoided Jay's eyes, „Yeah, I.. I better put on a shirt.“  
Jay smiled and took a small step back, taking every bit of warmth with him.

While Carlos dressed himself, Jay sat down on Carlos' bed, waiting for him to finish.  
He sat down next to Jay, who moved a little closer so their hands were brushing against each other, and both of them were staring straight ahead.  
„I.. I also wanted it to be you,“ Jay said quietly and intertwined their finger cautiously.  
Carlos had never seen him like this, but the fact that Jay chose to show this side of him made Carlos' heart beat faster. He squeezed Jay's hand ever so slightly in response.  
„Do you think the marks will still be there when we get back on the Isle?“, Carlos asked after a few moments of silence.  
Jay shrugged half-heartedly, „I don't need a mark to know that I.. want to be with you.“  
Carlos couldn't hold back a smile, „Ha.. you're right, me neither,“ he turned his head into Jay's direction and glanced at him, „How.. how long have you felt this way?“  
It was strange, asking Jay about his feelings, when they weren't supposed to have them in the first place. And when he had almost given up hope that Jay would ever have them.  
„I don't know,“ Jay answered, grasping Carlos' hand tighter, „I just assumed that we'd stick together. It's not like we have anyone else. And when Evie told us about the soulmate thing I realized that there's more to this,“ he made a small gesture with his free hand, „arrangement than.. convenience. It's been like this for a while, I just didn't know what it was.“  
Carlos nodded and leaned against his shoulder. „.. Being with you always felt so right.. but I was scared that.. I don't know, that my mind was playing tricks on me or something. That I was imagining it because I wanted it to be true.. I never thought I could be as.. happy as I am right now.“  
Jay put his other hand on the side of Carlos' head to make him look at him. „Me neither,“ he mumbled.  
Carlos eyes jumped to Jay's lips and up again. He inched closer without thinking, and Jay met him halfway, pressing their lips together.  
Carlos closed his eyes and began smiling after a few seconds of gentle kissing. Jay guided him to lie down on the mattress and Carlos complied, giving him kisses as they settled down next to each other.

Carlos snuggled up to him, already beginning to fall asleep, it had been a very long day after all, and Jay held him close.  
„I'm really scared“, he mumbled into Jay's chest.  
„Of what?“, Jay asked, although he could probably guess the answer.  
„Of what'll happen once Maleficent gets her hands on the wand.“  
There was a pause, but then Jay responded, „Me too.“  
Carlos moved his head back to look at him. When even Jay admitted that he was scared, the situation must be dire, but it was also oddly comforting, because it meant that Carlos didn't have to feel ashamed of his feelings so much.  
Jay's eyebrows were furrowed and his voice was shaky when he spoke on, „But.. as long as you stay with me.. it's gonna be fine.“ He gave Carlos another kiss before pulling him into a tight hug again.  
Carlos believed him, and not just because he wanted it to be true.


End file.
